Scientist insists at least two deaths at Deepcut were not due to suicide

An independent forensic consultant investigating the deaths of four young recruits at an Army barracks has said at least two of them did not take their own lives.

Frank Swann's initial findings have led him to conclude that injuries to Privates Sean Benton and Geoff Gray were not self-inflicted, and he said he was 70 per cent sure the same could be said of the fatal wound to Private James Collinson. More tests, however, were needed in the case of the fourth soldier, Private Cheryl James, who died of gunshot wounds while on sentry duty at the Deepcut barracks.

The investigator explained he had reached his conclusions from looking at photographs and conducting tests on a firing range.

But, as he revealed his findings, Mr Swann became embroiled in a public row with Surrey Police, who were called in last March to reinvestigate the deaths.

The families, who have refused to accept the theory that all four soldiers committed suicide using their own rifles and accused the Army of a cover-up, enlisted Mr Swann's help to find out the truth.

Last month, the forensic consultant was given permission by the Armed Forces minister, Adam Ingram, to enter the Surrey barracks. In a note on a family website, Mr Swann claimed yesterday that despite his ministerial authority he was encountering "passive obstruction" from Surrey Police.

He said officers had failed to hand over updates, vital documentation and two of the four sets of photographs of the deceased. "The police have given me no updates to bring me up to speed and have not given me vital documentation," Swann said.

But a spokesman for the force retorted: "We have extended every possible assistance to Frank Swann, we have allowed him to meet with our ballistics expert, we have facilitated him to visit the scene, and are quite happy to facilitate as many visits as he needs.

"We have requested a report on his findings and details of his methodology, and he has consistently failed to provide this, yet he is publicly stating what his findings are."

Geoff Gray, from Hackney, east London, whose 17-year-old son was one of the four who died, said: "If police are being obstructive, I find that very annoying. If you are given the right to do an investigation, you expect to be helped along the way by the people involved."

Pte Benton, 20, from Hastings, East Sussex, was found dead in July 1995 with five bullet wounds and an army rifle by his side. Pte James, 18, of Llangollen, north Wales, was discovered just four months later with a single bullet wound to the head.

Pte Gray, 17, of Seaham, Co Durham, died last September of two gunshot wounds to the head while the death of Pte Collinson, also 17, from Perth, in March this year prompted Surrey Police to reopen the files on all four.

Mr Swann's findings clash with those of the Home Office pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd, who was asked to look at photographs for a recent BBC1 Panorama programme. He concluded that the evidence was consistent with suicide.

The documentary blamed a culture of bullying for driving the young recruits to suicide. Witnesses claimed there was physical and sexual abuse at The Princess Royal Barracks in Surrey.